On the 30th of October, as part of the the 16th Australasian Tunnelling Conference, two long standarding awards were presented at the conference dinner. The winners are;
Allen Neyland Tunnelling Achievement Award – Ed Taylor
Ed Taylor is a professional engineer with over 45 years’ experience in tunnelling and underground construction in Australia and South East Asia. His expertise in the design, construction and project management of various aspects of major road, railway, water and wastewater tunnels is highly regarded and valued by many.
Since 1973 Ed Taylor has contributed to the improvement and creation of major infrastructure projects across Australia, the majority of which have involved the design and construction of tunnels and underground structures. Some of the projects that highlight his strengths and capabilities include the major water and wastewater tunnels constructed by Melbourne Water during the seventies and eighties, such as the South Eastern Trunk Sewer, Gardiners Creek Main Sewer and Thomson Dam tunnels, and major road tunnels during the nineties and noughties including Melbourne CityLink’s Domain and Burnley tunnels, Lane Cove Tunnel, the Mullum and Melba Tunnels for EastLink in Melbourne and the Airport Link & Northern Busway in Brisbane.
More recently Ed Taylor has been involved in the Northern Sewerage Project in Melbourne, the Melbourne Main Sewer Replacement, Sydney Desalination Inlet and Outlet Tunnels, the Sydney Metro North West and South West Tunnel and Station Excavations, the M4 East road tunnels in Sydney, along with Bulimba Creek and Wooloongabba Sewer Projects in Brisbane.
Ed was also involved in Downtown Line Stage 3, Thomson East Coast Line and the Powergrid Cable tunnels in Singapore and John Holland’s successful bids for the West Gate Tunnel and Melbourne Metro Tunnel and Stations PPP.
In geology there is no single design solution or specific tunnel construction technique that will ensure a successful project outcome. Ed has worked tirelessly in his various Engineering Manager roles to ensure that tunnel design and tunnel construction methodology are integrated and work together throughout the life of the Project delivery cycle.
Ed has been actively involved in the Australian Tunnelling Society and Engineers Australia for over 20 years. He was an instrumental member of the organising committee for13th ATS conference in Melbourne 2008, organised and chaired the 2011 ATS short course and currently holds the position of National Chair for ATS.
Ed is worthy of recognition, not only for his pivotal involvement in the delivery of the majority of major tunnel infrastructure projects to be delivered in Australia during his career, but also for his dedication and encouragement to the people who work in the Industry.
Whilst he has had major technical involvement and achieved outstanding results in his long-standing career in Tunnelling he has done so whilst proactively mentoring and influencing a significant number of people within the industry, which in itself is a lasting legacy to our industry that is worthy of this recognition.
David Sugden Young Writing Award – Russell Connors
Russell is a Singapore-based Project Engineer who has worked on several technically challenging and complex tunnel projects for John Holland across Australia and Singapore.
Originating from Melbourne, Australia, he graduated from RMIT University with a bachelor of civil engineering and infrastructure. Since 2009, the Russel’s career has followed extensive shift and site engineering experience in mechanised shield tunnelling in often dense urban environments with challenging ground conditions.
In 2013 Russell was awarded the Hulme Prize Award from the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Society of Singapore (TUCSS) for a paper titled “Breakthrough and Burial of TBMs on the Brisbane Airport Link Project”.
His winning paper for 2017 is titled “The Challenges of Tunnelling with Slurry Shield Machines in Mixed Ground”.
Visit the awards page to find out more about these awards.
Image 1: Doug Maconochie (2014 Allen Neyland Award), Ed Taylor (ATS President and 2017 Allen Neyland Award), Arnold Dix – 2011 Allen Neyland Award)
Image 2: Russell Connors (2017 David Sugden Young Writers Award, Ed Taylor (ATS President), Greg Ewing (Engineers Australia General Manager (Sydney & Canberra Divisions))
